Travel News

BY  Alicja Siekierska

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has unveiled a vaccination certification system that will require people show proof they have received a COVID-19 vaccine before entering some indoor spaces. 

The system will go into effect on Sept. 22 and will be required for entry to indoor spaces, including restaurants, bars, meeting and events spaces, gyms, casinos, concerts, music festivals and theatres. The full list of indoor settings is available on the Government of Ontario website. The requirements do not apply to outdoor settings, including patios. 

To begin, the province will require people show vaccine receipts that they received along with photo identification, but the plan is to shift to a registered QR code system that can be displayed on a phone by Oct. 22. 

"This is what we have to do right now in the face of a fourth wave because these certificates are necessary to keep our hospitals safe and to avoid another lockdown," Ford said at a press conference Wednesday. 

"This is the right decision for our kids, for our businesses and all Ontarians." 

Retail stores, salons, and places of worship will not fall under the vaccine system. Employees at the indoor spaces on the list will not be required to provide proof of vaccination. 

The province has been facing growing pressure in recent weeks to introduce a proof-of-vaccination system, as cases of COVID-19 rise in the province and the highly contagious Delta variant raises concerns about a potential fourth wave.

Ford had previously resisted calls to introduce a vaccine passport system, telling reporters "we're not going to have a split society." Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott had also previously said that the vaccine receipt was enough proof of vaccination and that so-called "smart card" systems may be susceptible to fraud.

On Wednesday, Ford said that he – along with other provincial leaders – had been pushing the federal government to introduce a national vaccine passport, but the province could no longer wait for the government. 

Questions remain for businesses

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), which represents 95,000 small businesses across the country, said its members are divided when it comes to proof of vaccination systems. 

Ryan Mallough, the CFIB's senior director of provincial affairs for Ontario, said businesses still have many questions about the province's system, including regarding how enforcement will work, who is responsible for potential fraud, whether any training will be provided for businesses, and if there are protections for businesses against potential human rights challenges or privacy lawsuits. 

"We do need some clarify around those issues and some additional financial support," Mallough said. 

"This is a new role that businesses and their employees are being asked to take on in terms of becoming vaccination screeners for the province... After 18-months of lockdowns and significant restrictions, the funding for that isn't necessarily there." 

Mallough also said the CFIB would like to see capacity restrictions that are currently in place for many businesses lifted alongside the introduction of the vaccine certification system. 

While the provincial system won't go into effect until later this month, some businesses, organizations and post-secondary institutions have taken matters into their own hands and are requiring proof of vaccination.

Some industry groups, such as the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, have urged the province to implement a vaccine certificate system that it says would help prevent another province-wide lockdown. Daniel Safayeni, the vice president of policy at the Ontario Chamber, said in an interview that the group is supportive of the vaccine certification system, but that the province could have provided additional guidance when it comes to workplace vaccination policies. 

"We are concerned that a lack of guidance is actually going to disproportionately burden small businesses with the task of creating, implementing and enforcing their own employee vaccination policies and that's ultimately going to lead to a patchwork of inconsistent policies across the province," Safayeni said. 

While the province's leaders had resisted implementing a proof-of-vaccination system, a recent Yahoo/Maru Public Opinion poll showed that a majority of Canadians were in favour of such a system. According to the poll, 77 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of having an identification system that shows whether someone is fully vaccinated or not.

Quebec's vaccine passport system went into effect today, requiring customers to show proof of vaccination in order to access non-essential businesses and events.

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

Travel to and from Nigeria remains suspended as there is no testing facility available at Lagos airport

Emirates has extended its suspension of flights to Nigeria until at least September 19.

The Dubai airline previously announced last month that its passenger services to Nigeria would be suspended until September 5.

However, in response to a passenger query on Twitter, Emirates said flights to and from Nigeria would remain suspended for a further two weeks.

“Our flights from Lagos are further suspended until 19th September. We're in the process of updating our website with this information,” Emirates Support said on Twitter.

Emirates' website says customers who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days will not be permitted on any Emirates flights bound for Dubai.

The airline advises passengers affected by the changes to contact Emirates regarding rebooking.

Separately, the airline said travel to and from Nigeria remains suspended as there is no testing facility available at the airport in Lagos, after another passenger asked Emirates Support if someone could travel to Dubai.

The same rules apply to passengers from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Zambia and Indonesia, where there are also no rapid PCR testing facilities at the airports.

However, UAE residents can seek permission from either the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, GDRFA, if they live in Dubai, or the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, ICA, if they live elsewhere in the country, to return from Nigeria.

Passenger services between the UAE and Nigeria have been subject to restrictions since March.

Nigeria has reported more than 191,805 infections and close to 2,500 deaths since February last year, but the actual figures are believed to be higher, in part because of low testing rates.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said infection rates have risen since it detected the delta variant in July.

As of Monday this week, 2.8 million people had received a first vaccine dose, according to the agency in charge of the roll-out, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.

Nigerian authorities plan to vaccinate at least 110 million people over the next two years.

Agence France Presse news agency reported this week that two southern Nigerian states were trying to introduce Covid-19 vaccine passes for access to public places and gatherings, in a bid to overcome vaccine hesitancy and increase inoculation rates in Africa's most populous nation.

By Wole Oyebade

All things being equal, the waiting game will soon be over for airfield lighting and night operations for Runway 18L at the busy Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

The Guardian learnt that a fresh move to end the blackout has commenced with the award of a fresh contract to install the critical facility in about six months.

The Runway 18L that services the local airport was rehabilitated in 2008 but without provision for airfield lighting. The contract for the expansion and resurfacing of the local airport runway was awarded to P.W. Nigeria Limited at N3.56 billion.

In the last 13 years, operators have described the local airport as an “operational nightmare”, especially during nightfall or bad weather.

Scheduled carriers recently told The Guardian that though they had managed to cover up the sheer lapses for years, emerging demands in schedule reliability have made infrastructure-induced delays and losses unbearable.

Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, recently at the inspection of the Lagos Airport, said the 18L runway has been delayed because of an existing contract that has been an impediment for many years.

“Finally, the honorable minister has graciously accepted to resolve that issue that has been protracted and he has agreed to grant us approval to quickly procure a new lighting system. You know FAAN is a government agency; we cannot work and procure a new project when there is an existing one on the same facility.

“So, many things you see that are delayed, are not delayed because of negligence or lack of attention; it is because we have to follow due process. In two years, we couldn’t resolve the issues, so we decided to let the ministry resolve it and get us approval to procure the lights. And within six months, we will install the lighting and the runway is expected to operate 24 hours. It has all been agreed in principle. We are just waiting for implementation,” Yadudu said.

Given the prime position of the facility, operators had regretted that the domestic runway has abysmally short flight hours daily, and is readily shut at sunset.

At nightfall (from 6:00p.m), all Lagos-bound domestic carriers are diverted to the international section (18R), and made to taxi about four kilometres back to the domestic terminal, which costs extra fuel and flight disruptions.

Yadudu said besides the runway that needed attention, taxiway Bravo had been yearning for repairs until lately.

“For the last two years since I became MD FAAN, our primary targets are the airfield lighting on runway 18L and then taxiway Bravo. We thank God, now, the taxiway is 95 per cent done.

“I am not aware of any court case on the lighting project. It is just that there is an existing contract on it that was issued many years ago. We don’t know much about it, so I cannot say much about it. The ministry has resolved the first one and has taken over, freeing FAAN now with an approval to quickly resolve it because it is a critical requirement,” Yadudu said.

BY  Kayode Oyero

The Federal Road Safety Corps says it is illegal to receive or make telephone calls while driving, regardless of any wireless gadget used for such communication.

The FRSC also said drivers who make or receive calls behind the wheels with AirPods, EarPods or any form wired or wireless earphones and handsfree mode risk six months in jail.

FRSC Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said driving requires total concentration and road users should not take any risk on their lives.

He said it is illegal to make calls or receive same while driving, according to the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012.

Kazeem said, “It is illegal. Driving entails 100 per cent concentration so you cannot be distracted. It is there in the regulation.

 “It is clear from the provisions of Reg 166 (1) that it is illegal to make phone call using EarPods earphone or whatever means.

“It is also clear that phone call is not restricted to telephone conversation between two or more people.

“Anything that will distract you while driving must be avoided. When we do public enlightenment, we even discourage drivers talking to passengers which could cause distraction.

“The law may not make it an offence but at the same time, it can distract you, even changing your cassette (while driving) can distract you and result to accident.”

BY  Charlotte Ryan, Bloomberg News

London City Airport in London. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- London City Airport, a favorite of regional business travelers, is seeing a tentative reawakening as British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa AG restore flights to key financial centers.

Services to Zurich, Frankfurt and Rotterdam are resuming this month, the airport’s chief operating officer, Alison FitzGerald, said in an interview.

“We’re seeing some early signs of good load factors, some early bookings,” FitzGerald said. “Hopefully frequencies will also increase.”

The number of flights from London City is set to increase more than 70% during September to about 260 per week by month’s end, based on data from Bloomberg NEF. Still, traffic remains about 80% below 2019 levels, according to FitzGerald. 

The airport, which which offers easy access to the City of London and Canary Wharf financial districts, is almost wholly focused on short flights because its truncated runway is limited to smaller aircraft. It has relied on leisure journeys that resumed earlier in the summer season when Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns eased, FitzGerald said.

While demand for business travel in the aftermath of the pandemic remains uncertain, FitzGerald said executives are seeking out face-to-face meetings with clients, and more customers will combine business and leisure trips made possible by flexible working patterns.

Lufthansa will resume services to Frankfurt from Sept. 16, after the group’s Swiss arm restarted Zurich operations last week, using the latest version of the Embraer SA regional jet series that dominates London City. The 110-seat E2 model was recently cleared by European regulators for the airport’s steep approach.

British Airways will add Rotterdam, home to Europe’s busiest seaport and offices of Unilever Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, from Sept. 20, after mothballing the route at the start of the pandemic. Amsterdam is already being served by KLM, London City’s biggest carrier after BA.

A Bloomberg survey of 45 large businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia showed that 84% plan to spend less on travel post-pandemic. Demand is also being held back by constantly changing U.K. travel rules, causing carriers to take a conservative approach to reopening, FitzGerald said. 

“It’s a cautious lift given where the airlines are financially,” she said. “They need to make sure the demand is there.”

BY  Natasha Turak@NATASHATURAK  and  Dan Murphy@DAN_MURPHY

Canada's tourism and hotel associations say they were caught off guard and disappointed by the U.S. government's decision to escalate its travel advisory for Canada.

The U.S. State Department urged Americans on Monday to "reconsider" travel to Canada as they set the travel advisory to Level 3, after just a three-week period where Canada was at Level 2 with the land border open to U.S citizens and permanent residents.

The Tourism Industry Association of Canada says the decision will further hurt the country's battered tourism sector, especially ahead of the Labour Day weekend, the first holiday in which Americans are able to travel across the land border.

"This was not on our radar," said Beth Potter, President and CEO of TIAC.

"It's like businesses got kicked again while they're already down."

The Hotel Association of Canada said it's disappointed the U.S. is discouraging travel to Canada, saying hotels and the events sector will continue to feel the brunt of COVID-19's economic impact for many months to come.

"Our current data shows hotels are still operating more than 40 per cent below industry norms on average, and this will only make things worse," said Susie Grynol, President & CEO of HAC, in a statement.

"Limited international tourism, combined with the reality that no major conventions or festivals are taking place and limited business travel, means that Canadian hotels will face another eight months like the last sixteen."

However, Flight Centre spokeswoman Allison Wallace said the fact that the U.S. only issued a travel advisory without any increased restrictions means there won't be a large effect on travel.

She said the advisory wouldn't even have implications for travel insurance, which is already affected by COVID-19 being a known risk.

"The pent-up demand is evident both for people looking to get away and those wanting to see family/friends that live across the border," said Wallace.

"Unless there’s a restriction put in place, we expect those Americans that planned to travel to Canada in the near future will continue with their plans."

Both Wallace and Potter say the question now is how long it will take for the U.S. to lower their advisory, and when Canadians will be allowed to travel south through the land border.

Vaccinated Americans have been allowed to cross into Canada via the land border without quarantining as of Aug. 9, although Canadians are still not able to cross the land border into the U.S.

Wallace also said the tourism industry will be watching to see if rising COVID-19 case counts will have any effect on the Canadian government's plans to reopen to vaccinated international travellers on Sept. 7.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2021.

Salmaan Farooqui, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly referred to the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

BY  Charlotte Ryan, Bloomberg News

BC-London’s-Tube-Has-Busiest-Morning-Since-Covid-as-Workers-Return , Transport for London

(Bloomberg) -- London’s underground rail system had its busiest morning since March 2020 as office workers returned to their desks and schools reopened. 

Some 831,000 people used the Tube network from 7-10 a.m. on Monday, an increase of 17% from the previous week, Transport for London said in an emailed statement. Bus traffic jumped 39%, with London’s schools returning after the summer holidays. Monday’s figures were compared with Tuesday, Aug. 31, because Aug. 30 was a public holiday. 

While ridership remains far below pre-pandemic levels, the pick-up in traffic suggests a much-delayed return to the office may finally be taking hold. TfL, which runs London’s Tube and bus network, has received more than 4 billion pounds ($5.5 billion) in government bailouts since the Covid-19 pandemic gutted tourism revenue and forced commuters to work from home. 

In an email, a TfL spokesman said he expected to finish the day with more than 50% of pre-pandemic Tube ridership, and at least two-thirds of normalized bus usage. The network was moving some 5 million people around London per day before the

Vaccine passports in nightclubs and other indoor venues in England will be required at the end of this month, the vaccines minister has confirmed.

Nadhim Zahawi said it was the right time to start the scheme for sites with large crowds as all over-18s will have been offered two jabs by then.

Asking people to show certificates with Covid vaccination proof has been criticised by venues and some MPs.

Mr Zahawi said it would ensure the economy could remain open.

"The best way we can keep those industries open in my view, in our view, is to work with the industry," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

The vaccines minister said: "One thing that we have learnt is that in large gatherings of people, especially indoors, the virus tends to spike and spread."

Mr Zahawi also indicated the government's plans to offer a Covid booster jab to most vulnerable people - including all over-50s - could get the go-ahead this month.

And he said extending the vaccine rollout to all 12-15 year-olds would "absolutely" be the right thing to do if the UK's chief medical officers recommended it.

Asked about vaccine passports, Mr Zahawi referred to Premier League football clubs asking some fans to show proof they have been jabbed, which allowed stadiums to reopen to capacity crowds last month.

However, only a small number of clubs have made Covid-19 checks a mandatory condition of entry.

Mr Zahawi added: "When the evidence that you are presented is so clear cut and that we want to make sure the industry doesn't have to go through [an]open-shut, open-shut sort of strategy, then the right thing to do is to introduce that by the end of September when all over 18 year-olds have had their two jabs."

The prime minister's official spokesman last week said the plans first unveiled in July remained in place, adding: "We set out broadly our intention to require vaccination for nightclubs and some other settings."

The Night Time Industries Association has said plans for vaccine passports could "cripple the industry" and see night clubs facing discrimination cases.

Opposition to the plans has also come from Tory MPs on the Covid Recovery Group as well as the Liberal Democrats, whose leader, Ed Davey, described them as "divisive, unworkable and expensive".

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour has refused to support plans to require vaccine passports for entry to nightclubs and many large events in Scotland from later this month.

Opposition is building to the Scottish government's proposal, which First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said would be the least restrictive way to keep people safe.

Wales says it has no plans to introduce Covid passports for venues, while ministers in Northern Ireland have not yet announced a position on a scheme.

On the issue of offering Covid jabs to all 12 to 15-year-olds, Mr Zahawi said he did not want to "pre-determine" the decision of the UK's chief medical officers but would accept their advice.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided not to recommend the rollout be extended, saying the benefits to younger children on health grounds alone were "marginal". They have now asked the chief medical officers to consider the wider implications - including transmission rates and disruption to schools.

Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the Nervtag group that advises the government on virus threats, said he was "a little surprised" at the JCVI's decision.

"We do know the virus is circulating very widely amongst this age group, and that, if we're going to be able to get the rates down and also prevent further surges of infection perhaps later in the winter, then this is the group that needs to become immune," he told BBC Breakfast.

Interim advice from the JCVI has also suggested giving a third dose of a Covid vaccine to more than 30 million people.

Mr Zahawi said: "It is very likely that we will begin boosting those groups as per the, I hope, interim advice becomes final advice by the end of this month."

On Sunday, 37,001 cases of coronavirus were reported in the UK and 68 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways' CEO said on Tuesday that negotiations to set up a new low-cost subsidiary at London's second biggest airport Gatwick were "advanced".

"We want to set up a subsidiary which has got a competitive cost platform," BA CEO Sean Doyle told reporters at an event at Heathrow Airport.

"We're in, you know, advanced negotiations to try and enable that."